Forge Collective

We create art that engages communities and transforms environments. We fuse design and technology to generate delight and foster dialogue. We design landmark interventions for museums, community hubs, and commercial spaces that enliven public space with a new perspective on what public art can be.

CONNEXION POINT

DIGITAL ART INSTALLATION

C++

Cinder

HTML

PHP

JQuery/Javascript

L.Roberts

R.Gandhok

N.Havemann

J.Ho

F.Medeiros

I.Padilla

P.Yovanov

Social media is flooded with the mundane - shallow connections, arbitrary statements... hoards of text and filter-heavy images. But what if social media was art? What if connections represented more than a follower count, but a means to meet and interact with the strangers immediately around you?

Connexion Point is a visual and interactive art piece generated by the patrons of 2013's Nuit Blanche event in Toronto. Via a mobile web app and a multi-user, gesture-based, interactive interface, the stories and secrets of those who visit are collected, digitized, and projected into a colourful world of geometric, kinetic elements that evolve into a digital community over the course of the night. As this world populates. Social media is flooded with the mundane - shallow connections, arbitrary statements... hoards of text and filter-heavy images. But what if social media was art? What if connections represented more than a follower count, but a means to meet and interact with the strangers immediately around you?

Connexion Point is a visual and interactive art piece generated by the patrons of 2013's Nuit Blanche event in Toronto. Via a mobile web app and a multi-user, gesture-based, interactive interface.

#INPIECES

INTERACTIVE DIGITAL SCULPTURE

Processing

Sketchup

L.Roberts

N.Havemann

J.Ho

F.Medeiros

I.Padilla

#INPIECES was a Twitter-based, collaborative art piece that scraped Twitter for specific hashtags and utilized them to piece together a 3D digital sculpture of the ROM.

Utilizing the Twitter API, Processing, and 3D modelling, the piece was intended to be a social experiment to see how many patrons at the ROM's Friday Night Live event would work together to help put the ROM building back together. At the start, the building was exploded into polygonal shards. Each successive tweet put a piece back in place, similar to a giant, 3D jigsaw puzzle. Each tweet was displayed (along with the user's profile picture) in a running tally. When a tweet was found, it was shown while a chunk of the fractal backdrop detached and floated over to the second screen, adding a piece onto the ROM building model.

Visual inspiration for the project was derived from the opening of the new Mesopotamian exhibit, Cuneiform writing, and the shape of the crystalline shape of the ROM itself.

AIR HOCKEY TURBO

MULTI-USER INTERACTIVE GAME

Air Application

Adobe Flash

Xcode

L.Roberts

N.Havemann

J.Ho

F.Medeiros

I.Padilla

M.Wiechec

A re-imagined version of the classic Canadian tabletop game featuring a neon-infused, futuristic facelift.

Developed by Forge Media + Design, this new version of the game connects up to 4 players (head to head or with two against two) in a frenetic game of air hockey on a large-scale screen. Using an iPad, players can control their virtual paddles seamlessly with the remote computer, allowing all the players to duke it out in true team-play fashion. Power-ups have been integrated, adding a new dynamic to the simplistic gameplay and amplifying the excitement and energy of the players and the crowd.
‘Air Hockey Turbo’ debuted to the public at this summer’s opening night party of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Friday Night Live event series.

Since it’s debut, the Forge team has received numerous requests for ‘Air Hockey Turbo’ to be installed at upcoming expos and other area events in the coming months.

SPIRITS OF MARKHAM

PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION

Traffic Control Box Graphic Wraps

L.Roberts

E.Li

P.Yovanov

The City of Markham has engaged the Forge Collective to create whimsical graphic wraps for a number of traffic control boxes across the region.

Our work seeks to celebrate the invisible forces and hidden creatures that call Markham home. Spirits and animal totems are often used in folklore to indicate a likeness or to embody a certain meaning. In this case, we will link specific animals to a sector of urban life. By showcasing these hidden animals with the modern structures and urban landscapes that comprise the city, we aim to excite and inspire passersby.

By utilizing texture, pattern, and vivid colour, combined with crisp lines we will create whimsical artwork, capturing the essence of Markham by contrasting the world of the ‘hidden’ with iconic urban elements. These illustrations will completely wrap the designated traffic boxes on all sides, turning these plain urban structures into monuments, visible to the road, but also enjoyable for pedestrian foot traffic.

This project is not simply about the beautification of the city’s traffic boxes – by turning a utilitarian object into a piece of art, we transform that object’s purpose. It no longer remains hidden in a chaotic, urban landscape. It becomes a monument that seeks attention with the intention to inspire residents of all ages and cultural backgrounds.